Tuesday, June 2, 2009

What rock have you been living under?

I had a really stupid question from a patient yesterday... One that made me question which planet she'd been living on recently.This lady approaches the counseling window, so I walk over and said "Do you have a question?" She replied "Yes. I haven't been feeling well, and was wondering... Is the flu going around?" I almost laughed out loud! Seriously - what media outlet HASN'T talked about the dreaded swine flu? Apparently she doesn't get TV signals or the newspaper delivered to that rock she's been living under...

32 comments:

I have this customer, who I know ONLY from the phone.She sounds like a little old lady. She calls several times a year and has for many years. She always asks for the pharmacist and always asks the exact same question: "is there some kind of BUG going around?" Some times she forgets who she calls and calls me 2-3 times before I remind her that I have Already talked to her twice....Nice to see she found you instead...

I just put together a list of the best iphone/itouch apps for Pharmacists, could you share my post with your readers? If there's a app you use often in the field that isn't on my list, let me know in the comments (or email me) and I can add it. Did you know apps can be written off on taxes?:) Might even be able to write off a iphone too if you can show that you only use it for work (for the apps!).

Wow... a pharmacist that has nothing better to do with his time but to whine about people that come through to ask you questions? If you think people are stupid, because they, themselves, turn to you for help, perhaps you should find another line of work. Like a fast food server. I think the retard here is you.

I would ask that question, too. I don't trust any sort of news source to give me accurate information about how dangerous the Swine Flu is (turned out to be harmless, even though almost every news source I checked claimed it would kill everyone), and I don't get the local newspaper. I would not know if it was in the local area, or if it was dangerous. That is a fine question.

Also, it's YOUR JOB to answer those kinds of questions. She was asking for clarification on something she possibly DID hear on the news.

Here's a great Richard Feynman quote for you: "I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy."

Would you claim Richard Feynman is stupid? Of course not. But if he were to walk into your pharmacy, he would not know the specifics of the Swine Flu "crisis." Would you call him stupid, even though he won a Nobel prize? Of course you would assume him to be stupid, until you found out who he is.

...I just stumbled across your blog and read several entries. Maybe this blog is just some sort of pressure release after a bad day at work, but all it does it make you come across as a complete, self-righteous tool. You're a pharmacist and therefore it it your job to interact with people for a tiny fragment of their lives while they seek medical advice from someone that they trust. This does not entitle you to pass judgment on them as human beings. I don't know you as a human being, but if I were to judge you based on the contents of your blog, I would conclude that you are an egotistical asshole who is overly-impressed with their own intellectual capacity. Chill out.

I'm not going to say that everything in this blog is unwarranted (since I haven't ready everything the author posted, yet), but majority of the ones I did manage to read seem out of place, like those IT support nerds who constantly bitch about other people's lack of tech know-how, not realizing that if everybody is an expert like them, they'd be out of a job.

...and yeah, the blog says more about the author than the people she blogs about. I hope I never meet you in person.

Anyone who thinks the author is being over the top has never worked in retail in any sort of customer service capacity. Like a fellow on the high side of middle age asking me the difference between a pack of batteries labeled C2 and one labelled C4 ( hint: count the frigging batteries in the package for pete's sake)

Ron: Your issue and the author's issue are completely different. There's a difference between being able to observe (as in counting the amount of batteries) and the inhuman intuition which the author seems to assume everyone should have, or alternatively believe everything the mass media feeds them; which in turn, leads one to the assumption that he's just a massively ignorant cunt.

Haha, what a stupid lady! Gof forbid she ask someone in the medical field or close to it if the flu is going around! Man, she must live under that rock you mentioned! Let's forget the fact that she might not own anyway of getting news almost instantly! Or maybe she just wants to know in general! Jesus Christ she is stupid!

Ron: I have worked in retail and customer service spanning many different industries. So have most people. Anyone who has ever had a job probably had to work at a cvs or something of the sort. That is the first kind of job I would expect anybody to have.

If somebody asks "is there bug going around", fucking answer them. Isn't that the first thing people say when they [and some people around them] get sick?

What is going to hurt you so much, making a little small talk? If the question you are answering has something to do with your job, and you don't want to "lower yourself to the point" of helping fellow human being, then what the fuck are they paying you for.

I make minimum wage right now, but if someone asks me a 'stupid question', I answer it.

Hopefully soon, you and/or whoever wrote this post will ask someone a totally harmless question that that person ill deem as 'stupid' and you'll know how condescending people are when they thing they are smarter than everyone else.

I am utterly and completely aghast that a person in a profession dealing with others' welfare would be so dumb-founded by the relevant question of a common disease, which is seasonal, and in some cases, lethal.Heaven forbid that someone in the exact location for information would dare ask for it, much less in the same section with alleviating medicine, there for exactly that convenience.

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The vast majority of names, ages, genders, and descriptions of people blogged about have been altered to protect their identity. I do take HIPAA laws seriously.If you should happen to recognize yourself in one of my stories, it's because you've done something stupid - just be happy that you're smart enough to recognize it, and promise yourself and others not to do anything to become a subject of my blog again...